Use of oxidase enzyme systems in chemiluminescent assays

摘要

A xanthine oxidase enzyme system to provide long lived entities capable of being recognized by a chemiluminescent reagent is disclosed. In the examples provided, a specific binding pair ligand or analyte is coupled with xanthine oxidase, either directly or via a streptavidin bridge. Thereafter the presence of an analyte can be determined by a chemiluminescent emission upon addition of a signal reagent comprising hypoxanthine, iron EDTA complex and luminol dissolved in barbital buffer. The resulting chemiluminescent signal is stable and detectable for many hours after initiation. The chemiluminescent xanthine oxidase system is particularly useful for immunoassays and DNA probe analysis.